A new provincial law allowing Alberta police to seize the cars of people soliciting sex trader workers comes into effect on Monday.

First-time johns can get their cars back after performing community service, but those who get caught more than once could see their vehicles seized by the province and auctioned off.

"The focus here is about creating safe and healthy communities,'' Kate Quinn, head of the Prostitution Awareness and Action Foundation of Edmonton, told The Canadian Press.

"Children and women in the communities are leered at, they're harassed by men.''

The law, passed almost three years, began as a private member's bill by Solicitor General Harvey Cenaiko.

Cabinet gave the law final approval earlier this month after regulations were sorted out and lawyers settled concerns over whether it violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Alberta police now have the option of seizing a john's car if it is deemed appropriate.

The vehicle will stay in police custody until the matter is resolved in court.

To get their impounded car back and avoid jail time and a criminal record, offenders could be offered the option of completing alternative programs.

Attending so-called "john school" is among the options of alternative measures, where offenders would learn about the harm caused by prostitution.

Former Edmonton police vice officer JoAnn McCartney, who now counsels prostitutes trying to get off the street, says impounding a john's vehicle is only a means to an end.

"It's helping to reduce the anonymity,'' she told The Canadian Press. "If they've lost their car, they have to explain that to their wife, they have to explain to the boss why the company car is gone.''

An anonymous questionnaire that was circulated to 67 men at the john school while the law was still being proposed found that 52 of them said the vehicle law would deter them from soliciting.

Alberta is following in the footsteps of Manitoba, which began seizing cars in 1999 and Saskatchewan, which followed suit in 2002. Manitoba has since seized 418 autos, and Saskatchewan has taken away 400. Most of them were eventually returned.

McCartney says some prostitutes feel torn on the new law. While it may see a reduction in the number of people soliciting prostitutes, those johns are the same men that sex trader workers rely on for cash, McCartney pointed out.

However, McCartney said there is consensus in the hatred of sex trade workers for their customers.

"They are absolutely disgusted by johns," she said. "They hate what the johns do to them, so any time there's some kind of penalty for a john, that's good.''

With files from The Canadian Press